Counting Crows' debut album
August and Everything After, produced by T-Bone Burnett, was released in the autumn of 1993.
The single "
Mr. Jones" refers to The Himalayans bassist (and Duritz's childhood friend) Marty Jones and Kenney Dale Johnson, the drummer of Silvertone (Chris Isaak's band), describing the desire of working musicians to make it big and the fantasies they entertain about what this might bring.
In December 1993, MTV began playing the video for the song. It was an unexpected hit, drawing massive radio play and launching the band into stardom.
August and Everything After became the fastest-selling album since Nirvana's
Nevermind. Source:
Wikipedia
Counting Crows - Mr. Jones Sha la la la la la la la.
Oh.
Uh huh.
I was down at the New Amsterdam starin' at this yellow-haired girl,
Mr. Jones strikes up a conversation with a black-haired flamenco dancer.
You know, she dances while his father plays.
And so, she's suddenly beautiful.
And we all want something beautiful.
Man, I wish I was beautiful...
So come dance the silence down through the mornin'.
Sha la la la la la la la.
Yeah.
Uh huh.
Yeah.
Cut up, Maria! Show me some of that Spanish dancin', n'
Pass me a bottle, Mr. Jones.
Believe in me,
Help me believe in anything.
'Cause I wanna be someone who believes.
Yeah.
Mr. Jones let me tell each other fairy tales,
and we stare at the beautiful women:
"She's looking at you. Ah, no, no, she is looking at me."
Smilin' in the bright lights.
Comin' through in stereo.
When everybody loves you, you can never be lonely.
Well, I'm gon' paint my picture.
Paint myself in blue and red and black and gray.
All of the beautiful colors are very, very meaningful.
Yeah, well you know, gray is my favorite color.
I felt so symbolic yesterday.
If I knew Picasso,
I would buy myself a gray guitar and play.
Mr. Jones let me look into the future.
Yeah, we stare at the beautiful women:
"She's looking at you.
I don't think so. She's looking at me."
Standin' in the spotlight.
I bought myself a gray guitar.
When everybody loves me, I will never be lonely.
I will never be lonely.
Said I'm never gonna be lonely.
I wanna be a lion.
Eh, everybody wanna pass as cats.
We all wanna be big, big stars, yeah but, we got different reasons for that.
Believe in me 'cause I don't believe in anything,
And I wanna be someone to believe, to believe, to believe.
Yeah.
Mr. Jones let me stumbling through the barrio.
Yeah, we stare at the beautiful women:
"She's perfect for you. Man, there's got to be somebody for me!"
I wanna be Bob Dylan.
Mr. Jones wishes he was someone just a little more funky.
When everybody loves you, ah son, that's just about as funky as you can be.
Mr. Jones let me starin' at the video.
When I look at the television I wanna see me starin' right back at me.
We all wanna be big stars, but we don't know why and we don't know how.
But when everybody loves me, I wanna be just about as happy as I can be.
Mr. Jones and me, we're gonna be big stars...
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More
Counting Crows songs in this forum:
Big Yellow Taxi
